Decision on Andrew's bid to get court case dismissed due 'pretty soon', judge says

A decision will be made “pretty soon” on whether Virginia Giuffre’s sex assault civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew should be dismissed, a US judge has said.

Ms Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, is suing Andrew after claiming he “committed sexual assault and battery” upon her when she was a teenager.

Andrew Brettler, representing the Duke of York, is attempting to have the civil lawsuit dismissed by a New York judge.

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During a hearing on Tuesday, Mr Brettler said Ms Giuffre “needs to lock herself into a story now” as he demanded she provide further details of the royal’s alleged sexual assault.

Addressing Judge Lewis Kaplan, the duke’s lawyer said Ms Giuffre “doesn’t articulate what supposedly happened to her at the hands of Prince Andrew”.

“We don’t even have a date, a time, a location other than an apartment, we don’t know when this was,” he said.

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“She doesn’t explain what this alleged abuse was.

“We do not know the details of these allegations and it’s time that we do before Prince Andrew is forced to answer these very serious allegations.”

However, Judge Kaplan insisted Ms Giuffre “has no obligation to do that in a complaint”, adding: “I understand your point, it just isn’t the law.”

When the duke’s lawyer said “we don’t know what the conduct was”, the judge replied: “Involuntary sexual intercourse. There’s no doubt what that means.”

Mr Brettler argued that Andrew “should not be dragged into this court 20 years after” the alleged assault was said to have taken place.

“Witnesses die, witnesses may be incarcerated,” he added.

The duke’s lawyer said the lawsuit should “absolutely be dismissed”.

“It is unfair, it is unjust, it should be dismissed,” Mr Brettler said.

The hearing came a day after a 2009 settlement between Ms Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein was made public, revealing the disgraced financier agreed to pay her $500,000 (£370,000) to end her legal claims against him.

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The document said Ms Giuffre had agreed to “release, acquit, satisfy, and forever discharge” Epstein and “any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant”.

But Ms Giuffre lawyer, David Boies, told Tuesday’s hearing that Andrew could not be considered a “potential defendant” in the 2009 lawsuit.

Mr Boies said: “The only claim that is asserted that was made in Florida in the 2009 action that covered Prince Andrew was the third count which was to transport somebody for the purpose of illegal sexual activity.

“There is no allegation that Prince Andrew was the person transporting.

“There is no allegation that Prince Andrew fell into the category of people who were doing the trafficking.

“He was somebody to whom the girls were trafficked.”

Judge Kaplan told both parties he would make a decision on whether to dismiss the case against the duke “very soon”.

He said: “I appreciate the arguments and the passion.

“You will have a decision very soon.”

Ms Giuffre alleges that she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with Andrew when she was aged 17, and was pictured with the royal and Ghislaine Maxwell during the period the alleged intercourse took place.

Maxwell was last week found guilty of recruiting underage girls to be sexually abused by her ex-boyfriend Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Andrew, who has not been charged with any criminal offences, has vehemently denied the allegations against him.

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